


A Letter to the Future

by smolkorok



Category: Linked Universe - Fandom, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Figure it out (it's obvious), HE, Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda), Mention of Death, Plot Twists, camp life, slight angst, sprinkle of crack, writing letters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-04
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 16:48:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23470435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smolkorok/pseuds/smolkorok
Summary: “A letter?” He asked.The teenager in blue answered, “Yeah! A letter! It’s become a habit of mine, really. It helps me stay connected with Aryll and Grandma and Tetra! But you don’t just have to connect to other people. You can connect to yourself! Reach out to yourself, write down your own thoughts, whatever. No one is telling you what to write about”
Comments: 13
Kudos: 125





	A Letter to the Future

“A letter?” He asked. 

The teenager in blue answered, “Yeah! A letter! It’s become a habit of mine, really. It helps me stay connected with Aryll and Grandma and Tetra! But you don’t just have to connect to other people. You can connect to yourself! Reach out to yourself, write down your own thoughts, whatever. No one is telling you what to write about,” He paused. “I think you should give it a try! See how it feels like—wait, Wild, where are you going? I’ll collect firewood with you!” 

  
  


And, just like the wind, the boy’s attention was carried away, racing across the camp as Wild receded into the woods. He stood there for a moment, turning away when he couldn’t see the boy’s lemonade hair.  _ Maybe I should write one... _

… 

He tapped the heavy pen against his chin, leaning back against the rough tree bark. They’d settled down for the night, and there wasn’t much to do. His attention drifted to the campfire near Wild, who was preparing to make dinner. The dancing flames reached out towards the night sky, boring into his eyes and making the emptiness of the paper that much more prominent.

  
  


He pulled his knees closer to his chest, smoothing out the blank sheet of paper. The book it laid upon sat nestled in his lap.  _ Now...what should I write? _

  
  


He slowly uncapped the pen, taking precious time to mindlessly examine the metal nib. What  _ could _ he write? Best not think too hard about it. Hesitantly, he scrawled out a single word. Gotta start somewhere, right?

_ Dear  _

His thoughts shuffled.  _ Maybe Zelda? _ No, no, no, she was too busy with the castle work. He didn’t want to burden her with his pointless letters on top of her duties.  _ How about the salesman? _ He remembered what happened to the previous package that he’d sent to the salesman. That pesky little white bird managed to shred all of the papers up. So, maybe that wasn’t a good idea either... 

  
  


_ Maybe the other Links? _ But, you can just straight up talk to them. Why waste perfectly good paper? But, having a random heart-to-heart conversation would be a little too awkward! You can’t expect to pour out your feelings to someone face-to-face like how you would do so on paper. Saying “I think you are very strange” right in Time’s face wouldn’t do him any good. 

  
  


Wind  _ had _ mentioned that he could write to himself, hadn’t he? Didn’t really seem like something he would do...ah, well. His past self would balk at the prospect, but what’s the harm in trying something new? Nothing could really go wrong anyway! He jotted down one more word.

  
  


_ Dear Link, _

  
  


He rested his hand and the nib against the paper.  _ What now? _ A leaf dotted with brown drifted down and settled on his knee. He stared at it for a few beats, then gingerly picked it up.  _ Was it this time of year already? _ He looked back down at the paper, now sporting a small pool of ink.  _ Nasty. _ He examined his fingertips, now dyed blue.  _ Oh, that’s going to stick for a while. _ He set the pen down to crack his knuckles, then started again. 

_ So...I thought I would give this a try. To write a letter to myself. _

An image popped up in his mind: the sailor, who spent his leisure time furiously writing away, happily ignoring the world around him.

_ It’s been a long time. I thought I was finished after my many adventures in Hyrule, Holodrum, Labrynna, the Dark World, and Koholint... _

His fingers twitched. He hadn’t thought of that dream in so long. So strange...

_ ...and now Hylia decides to recruit me on another mission. Why can’t Hylia just give me a break? I have since met eight other heroes like me. I wasn’t surprised at the first time I entered a triangular portal like that; it was just another door to the dimensions that we have yet to see. But, for some of the men, it was their first time.  _

He stared at the drying ink, his pen hovering on standby. Nothing came to mind.  _ How do I continue this? _ His eyes wandered around the camp. 

Wind was leading a very animated storytelling session, although he was too far away for him to eavesdrop on. Both of his hands were clamped together as he pretended to bury a sword into the ground. He seemed to captivate his audience of three: the little guy, the old man, and the captain. To his right, Sky and Twilight were engaged in a deep conversation. He caught a few words, something about “cats” and “remlits”. Meanwhile, the cook was preparing a steaming meal as the traveler sat beside him, watching intently.

He snapped out of his blank stare and continued.

  
  


_ The other guys that I have met bear the same name: Link. That’s one of the few things we have in common. One spirit—the hero's spirit—built into nine bodies across different dimensions. We range from short to tall, and despite our visual similarities, we wear our own scars, both physically and mentally. Not one of us is inexperienced here, all having faced our own doubts in addition to the pressure from saving hundreds and thousands of lives. _

He shot a glance at Wild, who anxiously snatched the ladle away from Hyrule, who managed to  _ almost _ burn the pasta. 

A loud shout and crash drew the attention of the camp, followed by a whimper.

“WHAT ARE YOU?” Wild shouted, his veins popping in his rage. He had slapped two freshly-cooked and very cheesy pasta noodles by the sides of Hyrule’s face, squishing his cheeks together.   
  
Hyrule sobbed, “An idiot sandwich.”

The forest stilled, witnessing the tragic execution of a poor, lost soul, stolen away by the wrath of his majesty, the Master Chef. He couldn’t help a chuckle that escaped from his lips.  _ Some people try hard, but they never change. _

  
  


_ Hylia managed to pull us on another journey. But, we are not alone. We are still trying to find her purpose for bringing us together, but, no matter what, we heroes are united under a roof of courage. _

He twiddled the pen around his fingers once more. In the small clearing of the forest, Twilight had already settled in next to Wild, engaging in small talk.

_ I’ve learned a lot lately. I’ve learned that some of us aren’t very good at keeping secrets. After a recent encounter with a corrupted lizalfos, a portal opened up and we found ourselves in a new land. I don’t even know if I can call it Hyrule, because Twi and Four said that the villagers in a nearby town weren’t facing any recent threats. When they came back, I was organizing my items and trying to find a decent weapon for Wild. The idiot had managed to snap a sword in half on a rock. Who in their right mind does that? Pathetic. A mirror was held in my hand, and I glanced at the wolf. It was a mistake, but it piqued my curiosity.  _

_ The mirror revealed to me the true identity of the wolf. Later that day, I asked him about a dark world form, but Twilight just brushed it off and said that he wanted to be an “Ordonian goat”. Four, Wild, and I all knew it; he was so obvious, we could read him like a book. I was accompanying him later on a scouting trip when a moblin ambushed us. After the battle, I found some of his belongings on the ground. When I bent over to pick up that accursed necklace, I, of all forms, had been turned into a silly, pink bunny. Me! A bunny! Who would expect me to take such a shameful form? And he didn’t even have a moon pearl at the time to turn me back! _

_ Embarrassing to say, we saw Sky, Hyrule, and Warriors when we returned. I took Twilight’s advice and rendezvoused with Sky. The Skyloftian used the Master Sword and thankfully I transformed back without too much fuss. I swore him to secrecy. Only those two must know about my pink form. Goddesses above, if the traveler ever finds out, I might as well be served for dinner.  _

The ends of his lips curled up in a small smile.

_ I’m not surprised that he is in fact, the wolf. I suspect that the little guy is holding a secret too. He tends to zone out a lot, and his speech style fluctuates, like severe mood swings. He can go from confident to aggressive. One time he’ll be sobbing over the smallest of things he deemed “cute”, and the next thing you know, his face is buried in a book. It’s not too bothersome, unless you’re conversing with him. I wonder if his name has to do with any of that. I think that some of us had a companion at least one time during our journey. With Four, I noticed that he manages to really work well in teams. If another aids him in battle, he already has a plan of what to do based on the partner’s fighting style. When fighting with one person against an enemy, their fighting styles don’t interfere. It seems like their chemistry is strong. _

_ Not only in battle does he offer quick solutions; he’s quite helpful in the campsite as well. If some sort of discourse breaks out, he tends to pick up the role of the meditator, and I would be lying through my teeth if I said he was bad at it. I found out one very obvious thing about him. He doesn’t seem to be a good liar; you can tell that his face screams panic every time he lies.  _

  
  


Three high-pitched descending notes pried his attention away from his paper. The same three notes repeated twice, followed by five notes. Twilight’s eyes widened and he jerked to face the commotion. It seemed as if the world had stopped to listen to the Hero of Time’s song on his ocarina.

The forest held its breath as ocarina’s notes flowed through the air. The last note was held, and it slowly quieted into a whisper of the air. Time slowly brought his hands down, and opened his eye.

The silence was broken.

“Wow, Time! I didn’t know you could play an instrument. What was that song?” Hyrule said.

“It’s the Song of Healing.” Time answered. “I know a lot more, but this particular song tied in to many memories during my adventure.”

“What kinds of memories?” Four asked, intrigued.

“Now,” Time brushed it off. “There's other  _ times _ for those stories.” Time chuckled, laughing harder when he saw Wind facepalm in humility for that pun. Whispers returned into their normal volumes, resuming the previous carefree ambience.

_ Now, the Old man is mysterious. He’s not actually old, but we like to call him that because he acts like some grandpa. I think his mental age is 60-years-old. He’s got an assortment of strange masks. It’s a weird hobby. Maybe old people are just interested in things like that. One night, Wild took out this bright and colorful heart-shaped mask with spikes on the side. Time had said that the evil spirit that once housed it was gone, but I cannot forget those soulless eyes that bore into my soul. _

A chilling wind swept through the camp, as if the mask’s previous occupant had dropped by to say hello. He shivered and pulled his tunic down to cover as much leg area as he could.

  
  


_ I can tell he’s got mental scars that won’t go away, but I‘m glad Mrs. Malon is here to help him with that. He would never know that I was his successor in the alternate universe where he died. I don’t want to tell him either; I don’t want to be another pile of guilt that he has to deal with. I used to feel bitter towards him since he failed and I had to pick up the slack. One night, he told us his side of the story, shocking everyone so hard. Apparently he was only nine years old when it happened. Before he got a chance to pull the Master Sword, Ganondorf ruthlessly murdered him and looted his Triforce of Courage. Evidently, I don’t blame Time anymore. Given that, he still managed to preserve his sense of humor and sanity. His jokes might usually be absolute shit (props for trying, though), but every once in a blue moon there is a Golden Joke. Above all, he is there to lead and support us in times of trouble. He is like the parent that I never had. _

His uncle was a good, kind man, doing his best to protect him on his own. It wouldn’t suffice to say that after, he, a mere child, had returned to their silent home after watching his death, would then leave as a changed man.

_ Now, the captain is a fine man I like to talk with. He’s quite fun, and we bet. A lot. More times than I can count. On the most idiotic of topics. Most of the time, I like to see his disgruntled face when he loses a bet, but I can’t say that I always win. I treasure his expression the first time he won. It was the smuggest look of all Hylia plastered onto  _ his _ face. Needless to say, he was happy. Sometimes we will debate about pointless things. Once, Warriors asked, “Would you rather fight one horse-sized cucco or 100 cuccoo-sized horses?” That stirred up a silly debate that got everyone involved and taking sides. Debating or even bickering might annoy the other heroes, but all that matters in the end is that we’re having a good time.  _

_ He earned my deepest respects because of his footwork when he fought that black lizalfos near the edge of the cliff. It seemed as if he was dancing a waltz of life and death between his sword and enemy. Of course, he won. The captain is a good and disciplined man that you can count on, like a true brother. _

He rubbed his eyes and blinked hard at the camp. He hadn’t done much, but his eyes were tired. He spotted Warriors and Twilight sitting on either side of a wooden log. They both held a steely gaze, glaring at each other. Their hands were locked together in an intense round of arm wrestling. Wind, Time, and Sky spectated quite eagerly. The Ordonian leaned in, taking the offense, finally slamming the back of Warriors’s hand against the hardwood. Wind loudly declared victory for Twilight while Warriors smiled and shook his arm loose, flexing his strained fingers. Time and Sky simply clapped and congratulated the two.

He snickered under his breath, seeing the Captain lose another battle. Warriors’ time to shine would come soon, though, and he would lament it when it did. 

Sky must have lost his interest, as he had pulled out a knife and a block of wood from his pack, currently studying it.

_ I’ve never expected to meet the Hero of the Skies. He is  _ **_different_ ** _ , in some way. Sky has never met Ganondorf before. Instead, he fought a god literally named Demise. He had told the tale of his lover being trapped in a crystal and the feeling of power as lightning surged into his body, conducting it toward the enemy with the Master Sword. Whenever we mention anything about Ganondorf, he tends to close up and feel guilty because he believes that he had started this all. I think otherwise. Hyrule will always have a dark entity haunting its lands, and it will continue to call for the hero’s aid. _

_ I’m proud of him for not dwelling on the past too much. He might have his head in the clouds every now and then, but at least he has a goal. He focuses on his future and seeing his Zelda. I hope things go brightly and safely for him. _

He paused. He’s happy for Sky, he really is. Not everyone had someone to come home to, and it wouldn’t be fair to say the Sky  _ didn’t _ deserve someone. He swallows. He can’t chase away this inkling of jealousy. It’s like a needle in his side whenever he thinks of the others’ “happy endings”. He himself could’ve gotten a happy ending if he didn’t wake that damned windfish. 

“Dinner’s ready!” Wild announced. 

He capped his pen, rolled up his paper, and shoved it in his bag. He pushed himself up, brushing the book that was forgotten on the grass with his knee. He picked it up and tucked it in his bag before jogging over towards the campfire. He waved to the other heroes, sitting on one of the convenient rocks around the campfire. Hyrule passed him a wooden bowl.

“Keep passing it to the right,” Hyrule requested. He handed the steaming dish to Four. When everyone got their meal, they thanked Wild and began to dig in.

He studied his meal: flat noodles bathed in a white sauce, small bits of bacon sprinkled in. He caught a whiff of the pasta; it was mild and slightly cheesy. Nothing he didn’t like. He took his fork and slurped up his noodles. Hyrule might suck at cooking, but Wild sure doesn’t.

Dinner was uneventful, except for a few side conversations exchanged here and there. The nine heroes were exhausted after a long day of walking, only a criminal number of breaks sprinkled in.

After dinner, Time asked, “Who will take first watch?” 

  
“Me,” Wind raised his hand.

  
“Okay, second watch?” All was silent. Nobody wanted to do the second watch. The person had to wake up in the middle of the night, cranky from just a few hours of sleep. He met the eyes of the other heroes, and their expression all said the same thing: no, thank you.

Finally, Wild spoke. “I’ll do it.” 

Time nodded. A few quiet sighs of relief were given after that.

“I’ll take the third watch,” Time said, “Who wants to do the fourth watch?” 

Warriors raised his hand, surprising nobody. Soldiers needed to be up early in the morning to fulfill their morning duties, and he had an agenda. 

With that said, they laid out their bedrolls next to the warm glow of the campfire. He saw Sky settle in his bedroll, and within three seconds sleep had taken the teen. He snorted.  _ What a sleepyhead _ . Wind took his position on a log near the fire, and, with nothing else to do, started inspecting his sword.

He placed his sleeping bag a few feet away from the campfire and he sat against the rocks. He brought out his utensils from his bag again and read the previous sentence.

_ I hope things go brightly and safely for him.  _

He pressed the nib against the surface of the paper and started once more.

_ The cook is an interesting one. His free and reckless behaviour tends to cause everyone to worry, especially Twilight. He disappears from camp for two hours only to come back wearing a mask of shame. We had thought that something bad had happened to him when he didn’t come back by dinner. Turns out that he got sidetracked collecting materials. One thing that is impressive about him is of his survivalist nature. Give him some mushrooms and he’ll make a meal out of them that rivals the best chefs in Hylia. He makes good use of what he has. He is also one of the best archers that I have ever seen. He could take ten moblins down in the blink of an eye.  _

  
  


He rotated his wrist, stretching his hand. his palm was spotted with blue ink. His lips compressed into a thin line.  _ That’ll be a pain to remove later _ . He picked up the pen, looking over Wild’s sleeping form. He was completely still, only the rise and fall of his chest indicating he was alive.

_ We try not to mention it again, but he faces the consequences of failure. Failure of his kingdom. Failure to protect many lives. He faces the blame of the cost of a thousand innocent souls. But, I don’t believe he’s the only one of us that failed. All of the scars that Wild wears show that he never gave up and took it to the end, and that is the cost of wearing courage on his sleeve.  _

In his peripheral view, Hyrule stirred and muttered indistinguishable words too quiet for the ear to pick up. 

_ Now, the traveler hero...he is quite unique. Not in a mean way, I swear. It’s strange that he’s held the full triforce before. I couldn’t even imagine the pressure of having the whole triforce at once; it seems that someone always wants to take it away for themselves and use it selfishly. When we met, he seemed to be closed off and on edge, as if we were going to attack him. Thankfully, he eventually learned that we were not going to hurt him. He slowly but surely gave into our support and learned that he had others to rely on. He’s relaxing more. _

_ Compared to our own Hyrules, his Hyrule was in an even worse state than Lorule. It was very desolate, eerie, and everyone was always on edge. We were ordered not to leave the path, and were quickly ushered into a nearby town. The safepoint. We hadn’t known that the next day we would face very strong monsters. Within a few moblins, we were exhausted just from how  _ **_powerful_ ** _ they were. On that unlucky day, our party had sustained a few major injuries. I cannot help but feel pity for what he has to deal with.  _

_ When we all met, he had taken a sudden interest in my hero title. He said that he had heard countless stories about me and my adventures, and that it had inspired him. Learning this information had stirred something quite strange in my chest. Somewhat pride, and somewhat sorrow. I had lived long enough to have my story told, however it wasn’t enough to keep Ganon at bay. All of my hard work. Gone. Yet, I am proud of what he did. He is a strong kid that shouldn’t be messed with. I await to see his true potential.  _

Only a third of the page remained, clean and spotless. He started to compress his handwriting. It would be annoying if he had to pull out a new page. From the corner of his eye saw Wind place his thumb under his chin in deep thought. With a deep breath, he inscribed his thoughts.

_ The sailor of our group is young, but that doesn’t mean that he is inexperienced. Reaching his Hyrule, or the “Great Sea”, went poorly for me. We were dropped in a large ship, and I could only think that we were going to get struck by lightning and drift into another false memory. Even in the rough seas, he managed to fearlessly stir us in the right direction—his safe homeland, Outset Island. His magical tool, the “Wind Waker”, lets him guide the winds to his command.  _

Wind was still deep in thought, with his bushy eyebrows scrunched together.

_ I remember the first time we finally got to get a good look of him after arriving on the island. He was much younger than all of us, proudly declaring himself as 13-years-old. I remember the old man’s shocked expression; he cursed Hylia for taking away another boy’s childhood. If we were pulled into this mess after finishing our previous adventure, I wonder how young he was when he started his.  _

_ Although he is quite young, he already has proved himself. I think that he is more mature than most of us. I hope the others realize this and don’t treat him like a kid, because he’s not. He isn’t just a teenager who got sucked in at a young age because his sister got kidnapped. Wind is more than that. He knows how to prioritize when lives are at stake. Simple problems won’t weigh him down because there are more important things to do. When it seems like the end of the world, he keeps up his positive face and looks on the bright side of things. I think that the latter trait is something that all of us need to keep working on.  _   
  
He read over the last paragraph, and nodded, satisfied.

“Can’t sleep?” a voice beside him peeped, and he swore he jumped five feet in the air. He quickly identified the voice as Wind, and he quickly smacked the book and paper to his other side so that the sailor could not read  _ any _ of it. 

“Y-yeah, I guess so,” The writer stuttered, trying to slip the paper of secrets inside his bag. 

“Woah, woah! I’m not gonna interrogate you or anything!” Wind showed his open palms in front of his chest to prove his point. His eyes locked onto the edge of the paper that was nearly popping out of his open bag. He smiled, “You’re really doing it! The Veteran? Writing? That’s new. Is it working out for you well?”

“I guess so,” He heard himself whisper.

“I’m glad. I’m sorry, I’ll let you do your own thing now.” With that, Wind pushed himself up and walked towards a tree, leaning his back against it and closing his eyes.  _ He’s going to risk our lives if he’s going to be that non-vigilant during watch.  _ He let out a sniff from his nose. 

He slowly brought out his book and paper, trying not to make any noise. When nothing else stirred, he replaced his previous setup. The weird portal and the invincible lizalfos were inappropriately pushed into his mind.

_ I think we have found our new purpose: to unite and defeat an ultimate foe. The people’s lives are in our hands and it is our job to protect them from that  _ **_thing_ ** _. The shadow is quite strange. I suspect that it has brought us together. We still don’t know it’s true power, but I am a little worried. For myself, for my friends, and for the people of Hyrule.  _

_ In truth, I have warmed up to my friends and learned a lot about them these past few months. I’d never thought that I would fall for their kindness, but I really am truly grateful for them. The hardships that we will face during the following years may be difficult, but it is all worth it in the end to be by my brothers’ sides.  _

_ I wish them the best of luck in the near future, and I hope that they get a happy ending. I sometimes even wonder if _ I  _ will have a happy ending after all this.  _

There was a precious few centimeters of paper left.

_ I may forget about this letter and it may be lost, but the sailor was right. It did clear my mind a little. For once, I finally found where my heart belongs. For once, I have finally found my family.  _ _   
  
_

He signed his name on the document.

_   
_ _ \- Hero of Legend  _

…

He read it over once, squishing his eyebrows together.  _ Ugh, it sounds too cringy! Too sappy!  _ He took the paper.    
  
The crunching of crumpling paper disturbed the quiet camp. Wind jumped and pulled his sword out, looking left and right. His jaw dropped to the floor as he witnessed the project being ruined by its very own creator.    
  


What was once a flat and neat paper was now a pathetic ball of trash. The writer shoved it into the depths of his bag, along with the book and pen.

“Why’d you do that!? Now all of your hard work is gone!” Wind nearly shouted, clearly exasperated. He sheathed his sword.

“Sometimes, not all things go the way you want them to,” he replied.

“Hmmph. You’re not wrong.” Wind turned away and looked elsewhere. 

…   
He pretended to sleep, turning on his side and facing away from the camp. A small voice whispered, “Wild.” Slight shuffling sounded as one woke up and the other settled in for sleep. When he heard the soft snores of the youngest, he sat up and dug his hands into the bottom of his bag. He pulled out the crumpled ball, examining it. 

He undid the ball. The words managed to be undisturbed. He stared at it, straightening a corner between his finger and thumb.

...

As he finished the paper, Legend’s wrinkled hands began to shake. The bottle that held his tears all these years shattered. Water filled his eyes and flowed down like a river on his roughened skin. He  _ remembered _ the good times the heroes had, the difficulties, the bonding, the brotherhood, and finally the farewell. He wiped his eyes with his sleeve and clutched the dear paper close to his heart.

He wondered how the letter survived in his old travel bag over the long years.

He wondered why he didn't throw it away, and he’s glad that he didn’t.

He wondered how his brothers are doing in the future.

He wondered why Hylia gave them one special wish after that adventure.

A strong and tiny pressure crowded his legs. Through his blurry vision, he sees a small girl with slightly-fluffy, auburn hair, wearing a bright white dress. Her wide and innocent eyes peered up at him.

“Papa, why are you crying?” The little girl asked.

“It—Don’t worry about that sweetheart, sometimes it is good to cry,” He answered, hoisting her up on his right arm.

He felt a stronger pair of arms wrap around his waist. He breathed in the fresh smell of the salty beach.  _ Marin _ had joined as well. Her fluffy red hair, similar to their daughter’s, shone brightly in the sunlight.

Hylia had granted each of the heroes a wish after the quest. Any wish. He did not feel selfish for his decision, actually rather complacent.

He smiled, pulling his daughter and Marin into a tighter hug. After the exhausting years of playing hero, he can finally simply be with his family. Legend had finally gotten his happy ending.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for coming this far and reading it! This was my live write on the discord. Fun thing is, I copy and pasted his letter to a separate Google Docs, and it turned out to be more than one page! Sooo.... let's just imagine either his handwriting is small or the page is in fact a long scroll.


End file.
